Day 155 - A month of How To's

September 1st

How to felt a wool garment. 

Felting is often used to create a uniform finish on a wool item. It create a fuzzy and soft surface. It shrinks the pieces, usually by 85% for the width and 75% for the length. Keep this in mind when knitting your item. (statistics provided by Patons classic wool - Classic Holidays projects to knit and felt)

You will need:

A garment made of worsted weight yarn.

A top load washer

A buffing garment (jeans or large towel)

Baking soda

Step one:

Place your knitted items into the washing machine add your buffer garment and baking soda, 2 tablespoons for a small load, 3 tbsp for medium, 4 tbsp for large. Run a hot/cold cycle using a low water level. The wash should only run for 15 minutes. Remember you can felt more than one piece at a time, you just have to check each piece individually for the result you want. 

Step two:

Check the size before the rinse. Repeat step one if desired effect is not achieved.

Step three:

When the sizing and felting is achieved, run the rinse and dry cycles. This helps lock in the felting and washes away the baking soda.

Step four:

Lay your garment flat to dry, make sure it is not in direct sunlight and away from any heat sources. Shape your garment, this will prevent wrinkling. If you notice the edges begin to wrinkle, you can always run a thread through the edge and gather it in. Removing it after the piece is dry should create a straight edge. Shaping the garment is an important step as it will be very hard to change the shape after it is dry. It is important to let it dry naturally, using a dryer of any kind will continue the shrinking process.

Step five:

If you need to trim the edge, use chalk to mark it and trim with scissors.

Step six: 

Enjoy!

Before

After

Caring for your garment

Hand washing or use the delicate setting on your washing machine, set on cold, is the best way to care for you garment. Iron with steam when needed but remember to put a towel between the iron and the garment. Tread lightly and do not press, this will create a mark on the wool. Using a brush, cat or otherwise can make the felting more uniform. Do so when it is needed.

(Sorry this was not fully published yesterday. It was an error on my part. I was super tired and didn't notice I only cut and pasted a portion. Sorry again.)